Page 8 of Origins

Chapter 3

Callie

I sat at the vanity in the bathroom my sister and I shared, dabbing foundation on my face while she hovered over me. Now that we were grown, the space was too small for both of us. Our parents had grand plans to build mini-apartments for each of us within the house, but they were still just that—plans.

For now, Aurora and I were stuck with each other, but I didn’t really mind. Between her nightly hero work and my constant pursuit of our parents' approval, our paths only crossed in our embarrassingly small shared bathroom.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear more than lip gloss,” Aurora teased, swiping the liquid eyeliner out of my hand before I could use it. As she leaned closer to the mirror and began swiping the pen across her eyelids, her long, strawberry-blonde hair cascaded onto my shoulder.

“Isn’t it counterproductive to put makeup on to fight crime?” I asked.

“You’d think so... but, being a hero is more about image than anything else. You should know that, especially if you want to be in public relations.” She laughed. “Isn’t it counterproductive to doyourmakeup when you’re just staying home?”

My lips pressed together as I found myself hung up on the first part of her sentence. PR wasn’t exactly what Iwanted to do, but it’d look good on the family. And, if I did it long enough, maybe I’d be allowed to do what Iactuallywanted: rehabilitate villains who fell down the wrong path.

Instead of confiding in my sister about my secret fondness for villains, I decided to focus on the second half of her statement. I studied her array of lip glosses as I prepared to speak.

“I’m not staying home, Rori. I... have a date.”

“Oh my God… with who?” Curiosity sparkled in her eyes.

“Just a guy from school.”

My admission was barely a whisper; I didn’t want anyone to overhear. I wasn’t allowed to date. Mom and Dad always dodged the question when I asked why, but I had a feeling they were afraid of someone using me to get to them. But... I had heard Sulien’s thoughts. I knew he wasn’t planning anything like that.

Plus, he was cute. Like,reallycute.

My heart skipped a beat as the thought of Sulien’s smile danced through my head. I could see Rori studying me in the mirror as a dreamy expression began to creep across my face. Her eyes widened as a delighted grin sprouted on her lips.

“Tell me literallyeverythingabout him.”

“... What do you want to know?”

“Well, what’s he studying? Hero program, hero-tech, or general studies?”

“Hero,” I admitted softly, trying to keep my answer direct enough to pacify my sister but vague enough to prevent me from gushing about how much I liked Sulien.

Unfortunately, Aurora was a stickler for the details. She grabbed my shoulders, giving me a gentle shake.

“Who? What year is he in? Does Jack know him?”

Aurora’s torrent of questions caused a ripple of heat to form in my chest. The sensation crept up my body, coloring my cheeks with a deep blush. Thankfully, she had no way of knowing exactly how I was feeling, since she wasn’t a mind reader.

Instead, Rori had the gift of temporal manipulation. She couldn’t rewind time like Professor Vitalis; at most, she could go back ten minutes. But unlike my history professor, Aurora could leaf through different timelines like pages in a magazine and pick out the one that best suited her in the moment. Somehow, she’d also figured out a way to wield temporal energy like a projectile. I’d never been hit with any of her golden blasts, but Jack had. He described the sensation as a weird buzzing that shook your bones, almost as if you could feel a few seconds of your life slip away upon impact.

“He’s in Jack’s class,” I mumbled. I regretted sharing that information the second it fell from my lips.

“Ooh, an older boy! Let me guess...” Aurora’s emerald eyes drifted to the ceiling as she tapped her finger to her lips. “Griffin, the super-strong one… or maybe Oliver? He’s the sharpshooter, right?”

Aurora kept rattling off names of boys in Jack’s class as if she were reading aloud a grocery list. With each name and power, she inched closer and closer to our brother’s friends and farther away from anyone I’d ever look twice at.

Most wannabe heroes saw me as a stepping stone, someone to impress for the sake of my family name. But Sulien was different. He didn’t care about any of that. Sure, he thought about fucking me more often than anyone I’d ever met, but he never made any rude comments about it out loud. He just enjoyed being around me; he didn’t care who my family was or how I could elevate his status.

That wasn’t something I was used to.

As I picked up a dusty rose lip gloss, the idea of Sulien flitted through my mind again, causing my stomach to flutter. I glanced at my phone, hoping to see his name light up the screen, but my notifications remained as dry as the Sahara Desert. Before I had a chance to be disappointed, though, a knock echoed through the house.

Aurora’s head snapped toward the door, her jaw dropping slightly.

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